Muse by Jonathan Cartwright

The Muse is a lovely spot for a date night cocktail — it is NOT a good spot for food. Portions are small, food is bland at best, and insanely overpriced for what it is. Food is a one star experience, but the cocktails are a 4 – 5 star. You can do so much better for food in Newport — try Bouchard, the Mooring or 22 Bowens. Come here after for a cocktail and live piano music.

The reviews for Muse seem to be totally mixed — so when my boyfriend told me he booked reservations here for my birthday I wasn’t sure what to expect. I am so happy with his choice because we had an absolutely wonderful evening at Muse.
The ambiance was perfect. The Vanderbilt hotel is absolutely gorgeous and practically whisks you away into a romantic evening right from the doorstep (if I didn’t live in Newport I would love to stay here). Our waitress was a pleasure — knowledgeable and attentive. Our dinner was perfect. Certainly some of the best vegetarian dishes we have found for my boyfriend in town. Appetizers, entrees, and desserts were all delectable. There was even complimentary bread course which came with three different compound butters. So. Good. We also got a special sweet treat and two glasses of champagne in celebration of my birthday. Nice touch.
We try and get to the roof top bar at the hotel as often as we can in the summer — and now we have Muse to look forward to on special occasions year round. I hope future visits live up to our first.

Sooooooo Sloooooooow.
We were there 20 minutes before we were introduced to wait staff. 10 more to wait for water and menus. We ordered wine immediately because we could tell it was going to be a long dinner. Two bottles of wine between four people before our first dish came out, WHICH was an apology appertif from the chef. The whole ordeal lasted well over three hours and was punctuated by silence, empty wine glasses and empty water glasses.
No thank you,

How do you screw up chicken pot pie?! Walked in on Sunday night of Labor Day Weekend to what is supposed to be one of the top three restaurants in Newport only to find one other table dining. Drinks are weak– wine list is limited. Excellent presentation with bland, tasteless food. No salt or pepper on the table. Lobster was dry served over a bed of squid ink linguine Alfredo– zero flavor. Chicken pot pie was dry with no sauce– Marie calendars tastes better! Ribeye was good– not great. Ordered flourless chocolate cake– looked like a ho ho with two raspberries and tasted like one! I expected to celebrate my 35^th birthday in style– in a off the beaten path hidden gem, leaving my taste buds orgasiming– screaming for more. What I got was $ 350 worth of garbage hidden by excellent presentation for two people. Do not eat here.

The quick: beautiful place, loved the view from the rooftop bar, food was very underwhelming.
We came here for our 5^th anniversary dinner after reading that Muse was on the top 10 list of best restaurants in Newport. When I called for a reservation, I was told there was only a 6pm or 9pm. When we arrived, there was NOBODY in the dining room. We asked to have a drink on the rooftop bar prior to dinner. Our waitress was very friendly and accommodating and obliged our request.
Rooftop bar views were really stunning, but a $ 10 weak Moscow mule served in a plastic cup? We should have gotten wine… and who brings little kids (under 6) to a rooftop BAR? I have a one year old and I’m an elementary school teacher so I get it-​but really? Go play your noisy video game anywhere besides here.
Back down for dinner-​we were greeted with a complimentary half glass of celebratory champagne for our anniversary-​nice touch. There was a special on bottles of wine so we scored a really great bottle of cab for $ 25.
Got the sweetbreads for an appetizer and they really were the best part of the meal.
Three types of bread and three types of butters-​again, good.
I got the most expensive entrée-​lobster over squid ink linguini. It was just ok. I’ve had better lobster at clambakes though. Lacked seasoning. Hubby got the rib eye-​it was good-​both agreed his entrée was better than mine.
Pianist/​vocalist playing a grand piano in the corner-​pretty nice.
We finished our wine while playing pool in the billiard room-​was a fun way to finish the night.
So the high rating for the ambiance and service.
Not so high for the actual food and the fact that we had to rush our entire afternoon to make the 6pm reservation when there was nobody there.

Had dinner there last night with 9 people, it took 2 hours for our dinner to arrive, with only 2 other tables inside. They didn’t handle it well… third time we asked when it was coming, they said it will be out in about 15 more minutes! Our dinners arrived at 10pm, ordered at 8pm.
Ridiculous…they were going to comp us for dessert, no takers… we just wanted out. Rib eye steak looked disgusting, like it was cooked in a microwave; the inside looked to be cooked properly (medium rare), but was the most tasteless steak I have had in years. How can a rib eye have so little flavor?

Food was utterly shockingly horrid. Bland, tasteless, and uninspired. No clue how this place is rated so high. I’ve never written a bad review of a restaurant ever before but this place just astounds me in how mediocre it is.
Never in my entire life have I turned away chocolate cake until I tasted their version which was more like cardboard with absolutely no flavor and runny watery icey flavorless ‘ice cream’.Unbelievable!
The service was excellent and friendly though, but that didn’t make up for the abysmal food presented.
Also: The rooftop bar is nice.
Caveat Emptor to the food @ «Muse». (Someone needs a new Muse for sure in that establishment).

PT Barnum said there’s a sucker born every minute … and many of them come to Muse to drop a bundle on a mediocre meal. Unfortunately, I and my guests are now among them.
The service here is extraordinarily amateurish; I can only imagine that J Cartwright is doing some good deed by setting these poorly trained east European «boys» on his guests. To begin with: why am I requested to wear a jacket to dinner when the waiters are dressed like they work in a pizza joint, complete with the one scraggly-​bearded schlub with his shirt partially un-​tucked and his gut hanging over his belt? Our waiter had to read notes he’d scrawled on a much-​worked ticket book to relay the two specials to us, one beef one boar (which he informed us was like pork). My daughter at eight knew that you serve from the left, not reaching across the table in front of other diners to set tableware or pour water — especially when you can full circumnavigate a table tin the middle of the dining room, but not the wait staff at Muse who had no compunction about reaching serving from the side most convenient to them, even to set tableware on the opposite side. Also, our waiter came as we were taking the last bite of our entrée to ask us how everything was tasting.
The wine list is limited and ridiculously over-​priced (yes, I know you’re in Newport, but we ate at Bouchard the night before and had wonderful wines at reasonable prices, not 450% markup on CA whites, for instance). The bottle of NZ Sav Blanc I finally chose was, unfortunately, out of stock. This we learned after 10 minutes.
As for the food, the appetizers were tasting sizes, which is fine and understandable when you order a five course tasting, but this was absurd — three paper thin slices of duck for $ 24. My guests added the smoked lobster, again, a tasting serving at a full course price. My perch was fine, but nothing special, especially at $ 36. I wish I had more space; I could go on and on. My advice –skip Muse.

Talk about a phenomenal experience! It doesn’t get much better than this place.
My husband and I were spending the night in Newport for our tenth anniversary, and he had actually picked a different restaurant for dinner that night. But after trudging there through the snow on the unshoveled sidewalks in the freezing cold, we found out they had a leak and closed for dinner service. We rarely get out for a nice kid-​less dinner, so we didn’t want to pick just any old place as a back up. We walked all the way back to the hotel and went back to the drawing board. Eventually serendipity (and Unilocal) led us to Muse by Jonathan Cartwright, which seemed fitting seeing as we had actually spent our wedding night at the Vanderbilt!
We were initially worried about being dressed too casually, but when we got there (on a Wednesday in February) we were the only ones in the restaurant, so they clearly weren’t going to turn us away! The waiter sat us in a lovely private area beside the fire, and made us feel right at home.
We ordered drinks (iced tea for me, beer for my main squeeze) and tried to decide which dishes to try. There weren’t a ton of vegetarian options but there were enough that we had decisions to make!
Eventually we opted for a couple of small plates — the sunchokes with shallots and citrus gel, and the potatoes and cheese with mustard — and we each ordered the vegetarian entrée, which was a butternut squash agnolotti.
We had a couple of bread options while waiting for our dishes to arrive. I went with the Rosemary garlic and my husband had the sourdough. Both were delicious — warm, crusty, and flavorful.
Both appetizers were good as well. The sunchokes came with some pickled apple which was just amazing. And the manchego cheese on the potatoes was lovely.
As for the entrees, they were perfectly done. Wonderful fresh pasta cooked just so, with a flavorful, smooth filling.
We had to try dessert of course, so we went with the chocolate hazelnut ravioli with citrus glazed cranberries and they were great. Cranberries plus chocolate: an underrated combination.
And to top off the meal, the waiter brought us two tiny red velvet cake balls which were delicious.
Wonderful service and a seriously awesome experience.

Very pretty interior. But this is my second visit to a Jonathan Cartwright restaurant and I fail to see the attraction. Very pricey bland Connecticut Yankee food. Yawn! The service was superb though. Very attentive waitstaff. Eric went out of his way for us.

Elegant dining in the Vanderbilt Grace Hotel. Had the oysters and venison and both were very good. Venison was a very nice portion and was not at all gamey. Very well prepared with a tasty raspberry sauce. Oysters were 3 oysters each in a different sauce and were also very nice. The bar had a couple of my favorite single malts so that always helps. The dessert was a French toast soufflé with vanilla sauce and a very small scoop of Ice cream and one small piece of candied bacon. Very good but the dessert was small. Otherwise overall a very good meal in a very good restaurant.

The Best Meals I’ve Ever Had at a Restaurant:
–le Jules Verne at the Eiffel Tower (Paris, France): veal, buttery noodles, and this shredded celery
–Brasserie 8 ½ (New York, NY): pumpkin risotto served in an actual pumpkin
–The Bombay Club (Washington, DC): butternut squash samosas and lobster moilee
–The Manayunk Brewery (Philadelphia, PA) – random but the food was divine: rare salmon with risotto, onion jam, and haricot vert
And now…
–Muse by Jonathan Cartwright (Newport, RI): cheese plate with assorted fruit/​chutney pairings, and lobster with cavatelle and mushrooms

how positively decadent! we had an amazing time from beginning to end at Muse; it’s always a blast hitting up the upscale restaurants in Newport during the offseason.
the menu is a superb blend of old-​school European style with New England flavors.
we started with the mixed cheese plate — I believe we got 5 cheeses — as well as a variety of crackers, fruits, and jellies/​chutneys. it’s a rotating lineup, some are local and some are imported. they aren’t going to slap you with that bland waxy American «cheese food» — no, you’re getting the good stuff here. ask the waiter for what the current lineup is. some are sharp, some sweet, and you may even get a nicely spicy cheese too. oooooooh!
the frisee, citrus, and avocado salad was nice and refreshing.
my entrée, the pesto braised lamb shank with a spinach and potato purée was spot-​on. perfectly tender and juicy, and the pesto took it to a whole new level. my wife enjoyed her lobster.
we skipped dessert, but the bar here is quite good. well-​made cocktails and a stellar wine list. one of the drinks mixed up hot chamomile tea and alcohol — talk about a perfect nightcap.
service was excellent and there was even a piano player softly serenading the room. the room is fairly large, perhaps seating for 30; there’s a fireplace in one corner, and note that the tables near the exit sign by the bar can be a bit drafty on a chilly New England night. our servers had no problem letting us move, though.
it was just a short walk from our hotel to here; there’s valet parking available as well.

Disappointing. For some unknown reason, a baby was allowed in the dining room and, as expected, was disruptive. I was going to leave when the waiter offered that I could move to another restaurant in the hotel, which technically was closed. Since it was raining and I was hungry, I agreed. I don’t think that babies should be allowed in restaurants like this (and what on earth were the parents thinking?).
The food was good but salad and appetizer portions were small. A lobster appetizer, while tasty, was to me shockingly over-​priced at more than $ 20 for about two mouthfuls of food. sigh.
My advice: when in Newport go to Bouchard … you’ll never go wrong.

Perfect in every way service, food, wine and setting. Smoked lobster appetizer with a glass of champagne. A peak experience. Soufflé was noteworthy

Positives:
— FOOD– incredible. I recommend the tasting menu. In addition to our courses, the chef kept sending out small tastings in between courses (no doubt because there were so few people in the restaurant, see below)
Negatives:
— Ambiance is too intimate?- this is a very small, intimate restaurant with ten tables. We went the weekend after Labor Day and we were one of three tables filled. It was almost too intimate and a bit uncomfortable as the four other people in the restaurant could definitely hear our conversation
Experience:
This was one of the best (maybe THEE best) meals of my life. My boyfriend and I got the tasting menu and were impressed with every meal. The quality of the food and service was amazing. One of the sous-​chefs came out at the end of our meal to see how we liked everything.
If you are in Newport, you MUST come here. I highly recommend the tasting menu so you get a little bit of everything. The portions are what you would expect at a restaurant of this caliber (pretty small) so you will definitely have room for everything. The menu changes frequently but I recommend the lobster bisque– they bring out a bowl of lobster and basically pour heavy cream (the broth) from a kettle into the bowl.
If you are planning to drive to dinner, please know the only option at the hotel is valet.

I has been wondering what would be my 300^th review and wanted whatever business, location, service, etc. to be memorable. Muse did not disappoint.
Wow.
Impressed? ABSOLUTELY.
Based on the name alone I thought it might be a bit snooty. It wasn’t.
Based on my prior experiences with other high-​end price-​fix three course dining experiences I thought I would leave hungry (I absolutely did not), that the portion size would be small (not at all) and that the meal would be a self-​indulgent ego-​stroke to the chef (wrong again).
Six of us had an 8:00 p.m. reservation and we did not leave until 11:00 p.m. It did not feel slow and while we were there for some three hours, the time flew by. Of course, it helped that the conversation and wine both flowed freely, but there is something transcendent about sharing a truly memorable meal with close friends. It becomes a shared and memorable experience instead of just something you ate.
The Vanderbilt Grace is a stately, elegant building and the dining area, while small, is open and well appointed. There was a lady playing a baby grand piano and her renditions were a terrific accompaniment to an amazing meal. Describing it as just a «meal» however seems a disservice. It really was a dining «experience.»
The wine list is interesting and well done. There a selections that will suit nearly every taste and budget.
The small bar area is tastefully done and the drink prices are in line with Newport standards. That is, they don’t gouge you.
There were two amuse bouche courses and they were delightful.
My meal:
Lobster Bisque with Crispy Lobster Wontons and Cognac Crème Fraiche
Pear and Blue Cheese Sorbet (the only thing I found to be odd)
Sautéed Beef Tenderloin with Shallot Glaze, Portabella Mushrooms, Potato Purée and Merlot Sauce
Peanut Butter and Chocolate Parfait with a Dark Chocolate Tuile and Cashew Sorbet
If you can, make sure you go. It’s worthy of your time and hard-​earned dollars.

I went here on Christmas day with my family. We all ordered slightly different variations of the 3-​course tasting menu, so I was able to try multiple dishes. Everything was delicious but the Beef Wellington was the hands-​down favorite entrée. For dessert, the highlight was a white chocolate crème brûlée which was the best crème brûlée I’ve had this side of the Atlantic.
The staff was incredibly friendly and the atmosphere was great. I plan to come back the next time I’m in Newport.

Stayed at Vanderbilt Grace to celebrate our wedding anniversary so we decided to have dinner at Muse. They actually printed our names on the menu and had an anniversary greeting which was a nice touch. There were so many things that I wanted to try and was a bit more adventurous rather than ordering the usual things that I liked (ie pumpkin soufflé=YUM, cream cheese ice cream=eh).
All in all it was a good dinner, but there were some misses. The complimentary white tomato soup was sooo good that my lobster bisque was a let down after. My lamb entrée was also very good, but the veal that went with it was just okay.
Service was really good and the server was sweet. I definitely had a good time with my hubby.

Yet another foray to a restaurant we’ve never tried thanks to the opportunities afforded by Newport Restaurant Week.
What a lovely dining experience, from start to finish! Upon our arrival we were pleasantly greeted by first the valet/​doorman and then the hostess, who escorted us into the comfortable, intimate (i.e. small, maybe seats around 40 – 45) dining space and showed us to our table near the fireplace. A pianist was playing nearby, which at first I thought might be intrusive but instead added nicely to the ambiance. Another thing that added to the ambiance was the fact that everyone was dressed appropriately for a fine dining experience. When I made my reservation on Open Table, the confirmation email had a note reminding us that gentleman are encouraged to wear jackets, and that jeans and sneakers are not allowed. Very nice indeed.
As for the food, we both stayed on the Restaurant Week menu: my wife had the salad, the salmon, and the pineapple soufflé, while I went with the lobster bisque, the cauliflower and leek risotto, and the dessert cheese selection. Everything was very flavorful and well presented. Serving sizes looked small at first, but we were completely satisfied without being stuffed when done. Service was excellent, attentive without being overbearing. Another thing we enjoyed was the pace of our meal. They allowed us to savor every course and not once did we feel rushed so they could turnover the table.
Again, we enjoyed every aspect of our dining experience here. We definitely want to return at some point in the future to try the five course dinner (with wine pairings of course)!